Aggregator
Warriors were champions again — and it was beautiful to witness: ‘For one night, we’re us’
After Dianna Russini exit, Times staffers slam Athletic’s ‘reflexive’ response to Mike Vrabel photos: ‘It’s embarassing’
Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax And Wife Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide
Justin Fairfax, the former lieutenant governor of Virginia, and his wife, Cerina Fairfax, a dentist, were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide at their home shortly after midnight on Thursday, according to Fairfax County police.
Justin Fairfax in 2019. He served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022.Credit...Parker Michels-Boyce for The New York TimesFairfax, 47, shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself, Police Chief Kevin Davis said. The couple’s teenage children were home at the time of the shootings.
Davis described the deaths as the result of an “ongoing domestic dispute surrounding a complicated or messy divorce.” Court records show that the Fairfaxes had been engaged in divorce proceedings this year.
Fairfax, a Democrat, served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 after winning election in 2017 alongside Gov. Ralph Northam. He largely remained out of the spotlight until 2019, when a series of scandals engulfed the state’s Democratic leadership.
The crisis began when old medical school yearbook photos surfaced appearing to show Governor Northam in blackface. As calls mounted for Northam’s resignation, two women came forward to accuse Mr. Fairfax, who would have been next in line for the governorship, of sexual assault. One alleged the assault occurred in 2000 at Duke University; the other said it took place in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention, the NY Times reports.
Fairfax denied both allegations - but the accusations effectively stalled momentum to force Northam from office. The situation grew more chaotic when the state attorney general, the third-ranking Democrat in Virginia’s executive branch, admitted he too had worn blackface as a college student. All three men ultimately served out their full terms.
Insisting he had done nothing wrong, Fairfax launched a bid for governor in the 2021 Democratic primary. In one televised debate, he accused his rival, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, of “treating me like Emmett Till” for calling on him to resign over the sexual assault allegations.
With minimal institutional support and limited fundraising, Fairfax finished fourth in the primary, receiving just 3.6 percent of the vote. Mr. McAuliffe won the nomination but lost the general election to Republican Glenn Youngkin.
You're never going to believe what happened next. https://t.co/pvwGEeQald
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 16, 2026Fairfax had kept a low public profile since leaving office. Thursday’s tragedy marks a grim end to a once-promising political career that was repeatedly overshadowed by scandal and personal turmoil.
Tyler Durden Thu, 04/16/2026 - 10:05Steph Curry shines in Warriors’ play-in win: ‘This is why Steph came back’
‘The Valley’ Star Brittany Cartwright Reacts To Ex Jax Taylor Taking Their Son To Hooters For His 5th Birthday
NBA playoff odds, predictions: Knicks series props based on season trends
NYC furniture retailer to repay shoppers in $350K settlement over delays, damage — and you may be eligible
Hailey Bieber’s Coachella lip liner is under $16 today — and it’s from her friend’s brand
Hailey Bieber’s Coachella lip liner is under $16 today — and it’s from her friend’s brand
DOJ Petitions Court To Toss Convictions Of Unpardoned Jan. 6 Defendants
Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times,
The Justice Department is petitioning an appeals court to throw out the convictions of unpardoned defendants who were charged in connection with the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The United States has determined ... that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” read a motion filed April 14 in the case of Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, and Jessica Watkins.
All four defendants belonged to the Oath Keepers, a group that says its members are mostly former military, police, and medics who are dedicated to upholding Constitutional rights. Rhodes, the group’s founder, had been one of the most high-profile Jan. 6 defendants; he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges.
In their motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, federal prosecutors said they would file separate motions-to-vacate in “similar” Jan. 6 cases.
Those cases involve four other Oath Keepers—Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerschel, and Joseph Hackett—along with Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola.
The Proud Boys group has said it is open to men who are “gay or straight,” and of all races and religions who support Western values that created the modern world.
After being sworn in as the 47th president in 2025, President Donald Trump granted full pardons to about 1,500 people who faced Jan. 6 charges.
However, he stopped short of pardoning 14 defendants who were Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
He instead commuted their sentences, leaving their convictions still standing.
Cases involving 12 of those defendants are part of the motion that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro signed on April 14.
The remaining two defendants who had not received pardons include Oath Keeper associate Thomas Caldwell, who received a delayed presidential pardon in March 2025. The other is former Proud Boy Jeremy Bertino, who admitted guilt and served as a prosecution witness against other Proud Boys.
If the Washington appeals court vacates the convictions as requested, prosecutors then would move to dismiss the cases “with prejudice,” Pirro wrote.
That specification would permanently bar prosecutors from refiling the charges.
Since 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court has “recognized that appellate courts have authority” to take the action Pirro has requested, the filing said.
Some members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys did receive pardons, including former Proud Boys national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio. He had been convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges that brought a 22-year sentence—the longest meted out to any Jan. 6 defendant.
Last year, Tarrio, Biggs, Rehl, Nordean, and Pezzola filed a $100 million civil lawsuit against the federal government, alleging prosecutors violated their constitutional rights.
Nicholas Smith, an attorney who represents Nordean, expressed gratitude to the Justice Department for its “wise decision” in seeking dismissal of the convictions.
“We don’t want a precedent that says that any physical confrontation between protesters and law enforcement means a crime akin to treason, such as seditious conspiracy,” Smith said.
However, former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him with a stun gun on Jan. 6, spoke out against the Justice Department’s motion to throw out the convictions.
“I would remind Americans that these were traitors to this country,” Fanone said. “They planned, incited, and carried out an insurrection.”
In a post on X, John Strand, a Jan. 6 defendant and conservative activist, said the government’s move constituted “exoneration” for defendants who were “entrapped and crushed by an evil, weaponized government.”
Tyler Durden Thu, 04/16/2026 - 09:45US Industrial Production Unexpectedly Drops In March (After Huge Upward Revision For Feb)
At first glance the 0.5% MoM decline in US Industrial production (considerably worse than than the 0.1% MoM rise expected - and dragging YoY growth in IP down to +0.74%) is bad news... suggesting immediate impacts from the war are being felt and sparking headlines decrying President Trump's actions.
Source: Bloomberg
However, while we agree that the decline is notable, the fact that February's data was revised drastically higher, from +0.2% to +0.7% MoM, means that over the two months, industrial production overall is actually higher (and up 0.2% since the end of the war)...
Source: Bloomberg
Energy was behind the slowdown:
-
March oil and gas drilling posted a decline of 2.4% m/m after rising 0.6% in Feb., Federal Reserve data show.
-
March consumer energy products was decline of 2.1% m/m after rising 2.3% in Feb.
-
March commercial energy products declined 0.3% m/m after increasing 0.8% in Feb.
A similar picture evolves for Manufacturing production which fell 0.1% MoM in March (worse than the 0.1% MoM rise expected) after February's 0.2% MoM rise was revised up 2x to a 0.4% MoM rise. Nevertheless, Manufacturing production YoY slowed to just 0.5%...
Source: Bloomberg
Bottom Line: it's not great news that industrial production is slowing... but it's not as dire as it looks at first glance (and remember Manufacturing PMIs were strong)...
...and energy production is unpredictable at best in the current environment.
Tyler Durden Thu, 04/16/2026 - 09:35War Economy Returns: From Trucks To Tanks, Pentagon Looks To Automakers To Rebuild America's Arsenal
With two active conflict areas in Eurasia - the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Eastern Europe and the U.S.-Iran theater in the Gulf - the world is moving deeper into a war cycle. The latest indicator is not only that militaries around the world are beginning to stockpile one-way attack drones, but also the early-stage push to convert underused civilian industrial capacity, including struggling auto production lines, into wartime manufacturing hubs.
The Wall Street Journal is out with a new report that describes just that, noting that the Trump administration is exploring whether U.S. manufacturers, including GM, Ford, GE Aerospace, and Oshkosh, can convert civilian industrial capacity into weapons production as conflicts across Eurasia drag on and deplete critical weapons stockpiles.
The effort to boost the war economy is part of what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has described as putting the defense industrial base on a "wartime footing."
A Department of War official said the agency "is committed to rapidly expanding the defense industrial base by leveraging all available commercial solutions and technologies to ensure that our warfighters maintain a decisive advantage."
Senior defense officials told the outlet that Mary Barra of General Motors and Jim Farley of Ford Motor have been briefed on converting auto production lines into weapons manufacturing facilities. The report did not provide details on what types of weapons could be produced in the factories or on the downtime required to convert those lines.
Those officials said GE Aerospace and vehicle and machinery maker Oshkosh were among other manufacturers briefed.
The historical precedent is that America converted its automotive base during World War II to produce record numbers of main battle tanks, bombers, and fighter planes to win the war.
Let's not forget that GM and Ford both repurposed production lines during the Covid pandemic to produce ventilators, so it's not far-fetched that these automakers could one day be rolling tanks down the production lines.
One major hurdle is the far-left unions, which could force labor actions such as strikes, as the broader left-wing ecosystem has transformed into a pressure campaign against anything related to Trump, whether foreign or domestic policy.
Evidence of converting underused civilian industrial capacity has already been seen with the German automaker Volkswagen, which will soon transform its Lower Saxony factory from producing T-Roc Cabriolets to manufacturing parts for the Iron Dome missile interceptor system.
In mid-February, we highlighted a conversation between Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey and Joe Rogan about how the U.S. won World War II. Luckey noted:
"How did the United States win World War II … Manufacturing. Some of it was new factories, but most of it was taking over old factories."
.@PalmerLuckey “WWII we turned our automotive factories into missile factories” https://t.co/P6ZjQsPjeW pic.twitter.com/uUJmcTTupU
— Molly O’Shea (@MollySOShea) April 16, 2026That's why Chinese autos will never flood the U.S.: it would destroy the auto industrial base that can easily be converted to wartime production. However, the current left-wing regime in Europe has already chosen to hollow out its industrial core by flooding the continent with BYD cars.
This is wartime stuff.
Tyler Durden Thu, 04/16/2026 - 09:35